background Although psychological test feedback may influence treatment outcome, the generalization of this principle to clinical settings is unknown.
aim An investigation is reported on the controlled influence of test feedback on treatment outcome in a group of out-patients with personality disorders in a ward for psychotherapeutic day treatment. method At pre-test, 111 patients entered the investigation, 88 were still present in the fifth month (post-test) and 74 patients participated with the follow-up. Dependent variables included self-report checklists concerning interpersonal styles (Interpersonal Checklist, ICL-R), coping mechanisms (Utrechtse Copinglijst, UCL), symptoms (Symptom Checklist, SCL-90), social adjustment (SAS-R) and client satisfaction (De-Brey-schaal). At the same time, an additional quality investigation was carried out.
results The positive effect of test feedback reported in the literature could not be replicated. An additional quality investigation showed significant changes in symptoms, as well as in interpersonal styles, coping mechanisms and social adjustment. In general, 60% of the clients generally is content on the received treatment; 37% is very content.
conclusion Psychodiagnostic feedback has no effect on treatment outcome. A high affiliation score is a good predictor of treatment outcome. Satisfaction of the clients about the treatment was rather high. There is no relation between effects at follow-up and aftercare.